


Summertime

by Strawb3rryLemonade



Category: Transformers (Unicron Trilogy), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Armada
Genre: Amica Endurae, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, These two are so sweet when I write them, palm readings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22885462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawb3rryLemonade/pseuds/Strawb3rryLemonade
Summary: For a summer, Starscream and Alexis are divided. But the two always find a way back to each other again.Feat one lonely girl who's growing into herself, a solider with a new start, and palm readings
Relationships: Alexis Thi Dang & Starscream, Alexis Thi Dang/Starscream
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	Summertime

Alexis wrapped her windbreaker tightly against the autumn chill, dancing through the trees and drying long grass. She looked down at the canyon below; she saw no other trace of life, and for a moment, she felt completely and utterly alone.

The young girl was grateful to return to Arizona, after a long, somewhat lonely stretch of summer in Vietnam. She remembered her grandparent’s hobbled car, a wearied green Volkswagen beetle, that they would drive up and down the different dirt roads to the neighboring villages. There, in the street markets and cobbled houses, would be the sights and sounds of her ancestry. But it didn’t feel like home.

The Autobots were enthusiastic to see her again as well, although the time hardly passed by for them-even during the ravage of war, their lives lasted for millions of years. After a comfortable few days, when things began to get settled again at the base, she politely asked First-Aid to transfer her to these coordinates; he raised an optic at first but did what he was told. 

The canyon stretches as far as the eye could see. It had been months since she heard anything from Starscream; while she was able to text her friends, the other humans on the Autobot’s base, with the occasional video call from the Autobots, she hadn’t heard a single word from the former Decepticon second in command. Optimus Prime credited it to a covert mission, but she would have been lying if she said she didn’t feel frozen out.

Suddenly, she heard a loud uproar from above-what seemed like a falling star raced across the sky, only to suddenly shift direction, plummeting fast to the earth. Before she had time to get to her feet, the comet slowed down. She listened to the scraping of metal, the alien jet breaking apart, fusing together, and breaking again. Alexis recognized Starscream instantly. He landed gently upon the desert’s floor.

“Well,” she started, the dust billowing around them both. “You certainly know how to make an entrance”.

He said nothing. Starscream knelt down on one knee, placing a massive palm to the ground. She stepped carefully, and he raised her forward. One would expect that his touch would be cold, built from the metal of the stars above, but Alexis knew he was warm from the Energon that raced through him, charged from the heat of his spark. 

“How was the visit to your homeland? And your progenitors?”

“Progenitors? C’mon Starscream, you know the word for grandparents. You’re just messing with me.”

She saw the barest trace of a hidden smile. “I’m not sure to what you’re referring to”.

He began to walk forward, gently stepping into a small, sloping ravine. He slid downhill, further and further until he reached a clearing in the cleave of the valley. The pair was quiet for a moment before Starscream spoke again. 

“It is unfortunate that I was unable to contact you-I trust Optimus gave you the details of my mission. I would’ve visited you, but I couldn’t compromise my location.” 

Alexis grinned. “You would’ve visited me?”  
He deflected his question, cocking his head. “I assume most of the Autobots did- after all, you are a pretty spoiled pet”.

“Hey!” squeaked Alexis, caught off guard. Starscream let out a low chuckle.

He lowered himself to the ground, sitting crossed legged. He leaned forward, resting his right elbow on his knee, and brought her to face level. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Alexis queried.

“Asking a question with a question? Always so strange Alexis. 

She felt her face grow hot but pushed on anyway.

“Have you had your palm read before?” 

Starscream paused for a second, “A-palm reading?” His processor searched for the definition, but the concept didn’t register with his personal database for the earth.

She looked into his eyes, stark and jasper. ”Humans are known for their superstitious nature, whether we care to admit it or not. But for thousands of years, there’s been this hunger to know our fate.”

He saw a smile, quick and clever, draw upon her face. “And this is where palm readings play in,”. She raised a bronze hand towards the massive face, and then placed a delicate finger on a crinkle, etched in her skin. “We read the lines that time has given us; we see our potential, and what we’ve done with it,”.

Starscream had lived for millions of years, had seen uprisings, had seen the rise and fall of civilizations- he had known hope, and he had known to have every resemblance of it disappear with enough time and grief. But humans, humans had never let their desire dissipate completely. There was always something greater, something more at play. 

“Have you had your palms read before?’ the seeker asked. 

Alexis grinned again. “Yes, but that’ll be a conversation for another day. The main reason I’m telling you this,”- she knelt down and pulled her satchel off of her back, taking out a thick book “is to put something new I learned to use”. She lifted up her leather bag. “Would you mind putting this away?” She asked politely. “It’s a little heavy,”. 

Starscream pinched the tawny backpack and delicately placed it in his cockpit. 

Alexis opened up the book to a random page, but looked straight at Starscream, and began to recite what she read from memory. “There are different schools of thought when it comes to palm reading, but I’m using what’s more of the established consensus, at least in the western world. When I was in Vietnam to see my Ông ngoại and Bà ngoại, my left hand was read. The left-hand shows more of an emphasis on emotions. But I think you’d rather have your right-hand seen-it offers more insight on your goals and achievements.” 

“Would you want to try?”

He seemed to hesitate for a while and then consented.

Alexis stood up, studying the crosses is his ancient, wearied palm. 

“It seems that you’ve had to work at a very young age. The beginning of your life was tumultuous-there’s a lot of jagged edges. The line strengthens, you grow into yourself, but the lines here-the ones intersecting from the outside- they suggest the world around you was hostile.

Starscream said nothing after this. For a while, both of them didn’t speak.

“Does it show my future?”

Alexis looked him in the eye; it was usually difficult to read him, but by how slowly and surely he spoke, she could tell he was earnest.

“The truth is, I don’t know.”  
“I haven’t been doing this for very long. And I can make a couple of guesses, to tell you what I think, but it’s all too vague.”

“But I can try” 

Alexis knelt down, bringing her arm to the gap shared between his thumb and index finger. She traced down until she reached the center of his bottom palm. 

“Huh,” she uttered.

Starscream perked his optic. Before he was able to inquire more, Alexis began, tracing her hand on his massive palm the while.

“Usually, we see the fate line here, but it took me a second to realize that you don’t have one-you have several.”

“What does it mean?” he raised. 

“I would say that there’s no set pattern to your life. Think about it- you told me you were raised in the war barracks, were set to fight barely before you knew what you were going to battle for, and quickly rose to be second in command of the Decepticon legion. Yet you left that for a legacy of honor and listened to the words of me- a human. That’s nothing short of incredible, Starscream.”

“I hope,” he began, careful with his words “that through all of these, we’ll stay together”.


End file.
